Jyotika i bet you have been working real hard not to fall behind your fellow mates and that's what it counts. All we can do is try to make best out of it. Raising the hands and answering the questions in the classroom doesn't make one smarter than the other. And reading your posts i am sure you will not be gone unnoticed among your friends in the future either. " Of course, she was not an average student and she had pretty decent educational background. But here, she feels like an alien." This is exactly how i used to feel. But we have to hang on to what we are trying to do. there will be bumps on the road every now and then which should not deviate us from the original path. And i was not an "A" grader neither (had couple of Ds to be honest). but what i have realized now is grades are only in the transcripts. the outer world is totally different and perhaps suits better to people like myself than A graders. There were/ are hundreds of people in your situation, in that sense you are not the only one. But you are the only one in many other aspects of life because we all are unique. Do not let them smarties carried away you. Just not try to compare yourself with others. You are one of a kind and so are the others. "Everybody is unique", that's what they say anyways.